A 37-year-old Jordanian man was attacked by a shark Tuesday while paragliding in Jordan's Aqaba Gulf, a short distance from Eilat.

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Video circulating on social media after the attack showed the shark bite into the man's leg as he hovered above the water. The victim was rescued within minutes and taken to a nearby hospital, where his leg was amputated.

A shark attack in the gulf is extremely rare, especially since large sharks rarely attack people, for it is not part of their natural diet.

Adi Barash, chair at Sharks in Israel environmental conservation organization, said that based on reports, it was most likely a shortfin mako shark, commonly found in Eilat waters.

"To date, we have identified 14 shark species in the Gulf of Eilat that live in the wild," she said. "Based on the shark's color and jump, it is most likely a mako shark, also known as the blue pointer. There are no known instances of such shark attacks in the Gulf of Eilat. It is incredibly rare. The last time something like this happened was 40 years ago."

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Jordan's King Abdullah on Sunday met with Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and both leaders set high hopes that US President-elect Joe Biden would revive peace talks over a two-state solution to the decades-old Arab-Israeli conflict, officials said.

In a palace statement following his meeting with Abbas in the Red Sea port of Aqaba, the monarch said he fully backed Palestinian statehood.

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"His Majesty stressed Jordan stood with all its resources alongside Palestinians in achieving their legitimate rights to set up an independent state," Abdullah was quoted as saying in the statement.

In his first conversation with an Arab leader since his election earlier this month, Biden spoke with King Abdullah last week, telling the monarch that he hopes to cooperate on "supporting a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict."

In recent months, Abdullah has said Israeli policies and US President Donald Trump's Middle East peace plan would lead to conflict.

The Trump administration has reversed decades of US policy on the conflict, refraining from endorsing the two-state solution, the longtime international formula which envisages a Palestinian state co-existing with Israel.

Diplomats say the monarch, a staunch US ally who was among the first Arab leaders to congratulate Biden, saw Trump's backing of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as sidelining the kingdom's once pivotal role in Arab-Israeli peacemaking.

Trump's peace plan was also seen as posing an existentialist threat to Jordan with the demise of a Palestinian state through the annexation of large parts of the West Bank pushing the kingdom to become an alternative state for Palestinians.

Jordan, which lost the West Bank including east Jerusalem to Israel during the 1967 Six-Day War, lies at the heart of the conflict with many of its more than 7 million citizens of Palestinian origin.

In another joint communique with Abbas, both leaders asserted that Israel "attempts to impose new realities" by annexing and accelerating settlement building in "occupied" Palestinian territory.

Abbas, who three years ago cut off contact with the Trump administration, accusing it of pro-Israel bias, on Monday was set to head to Cairo to seek its support for a revival of peace talks based on a two-state solution, diplomats said.

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Aqaba residents stood at the shore watching and taking photos as a helicopter and a tank were slowly submerged into the water.

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The city's Special Economic Zone, which is responsible for promoting business and tourism in the city, hopes the underwater structures will encourage more diving enthusiasts to visit by enhancing the environment for marine life.

The museum will also relieve the pressure on natural reefs by drawing visitors away from those sites.

Video: Reuters

A total of 19 military vehicles and machines have been submerged in the sea after weeks of planning and pinpointing appropriate locations to ensure that the process would not harm natural marine life in the area.

Some have landed at 15-20 meters (yards) below the surface, while other objects can be found deeper, at 20-30 meters.

Aqaba resident Asmaa Riyaty, who learned how to dive from her father, often goes diving to enjoy looking at a tank "that looks beautiful," she said. The 17-year-old is looking forward to going into the water with family members to see a helicopter that she watched being lowered from the shore.

The museum is the latest addition to the diving sites in the area. The Aqaba seabed is also home to a C-130 Hercules jet sunk last year, as well as a tank and shipwreck which were submerged in the late 90s. These have become popular diving sites with rich coral reefs and an active marine life.

Local diving instructor Samy al-Azrat hopes the latest additions will attract more tourists and business.

Tourism is one of the country's main sources of foreign currency and constitutes around 10% of the country's GDP.

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